Trump’s opponents see a sweeping crackdown on free speech | In an effort to stamp out “woke” racial and gender messages, critics say, the president is running afoul of the First Amendment

> President Donald Trump and his ally Elon Musk portray themselves as near-absolutists when it comes to free speech, engaged in an epic fight to let Americans speak openly again after years of enduring liberal efforts to shut down conservative voices.

> But since taking office, the president has mounted what critics call his own sweeping attack on freedom of expression. Some of it aims to stamp out diversity, equity and inclusion and what he terms “radical gender ideology.” Some of it is aimed at media organizations whose language he dislikes. In other cases, the attacks target opponents who have spoken sharply about the administration.

> Together, critics — and in some cases, judges — have said Trump’s efforts have gone beyond shaping the message of the federal government to threaten the First Amendment rights of private groups and individuals.

> “You can claim that you are championing expression and are a free-speech supporter, but saying those things doesn’t change what are a number of steps that add up to government censorship,” said Michelle Deutchman, executive director of the National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement at the University of California. “The government is using content-based and even viewpoint-based discrimination to make decisions about what words and thoughts people can express.”

> Trump’s orders banning DEI efforts threaten organizations receiving federal money if they advocate for diversity and inclusion. That violates the First Amendment, a judge said recently, because it targets “viewpoints the government wishes to punish and, apparently, attempt to extinguish.”

> Another Trump directive, forbidding schools nationwide from teaching about “gender ideology” or “discriminatory equity ideology,” is drawing similar criticism from free-speech advocates, who say the president has no authority to punish local school districts for teaching ideas he rejects.

> The White House is also punishing the Associated Press, a major news organization, for continuing to call the Gulf of Mexico by its long-standing name rather than switching to “Gulf of America,” as Trump has dictated. In a lawsuit protesting its ban from White House events, the AP noted that “the Constitution does not allow the government to control speech.”

> Taken together, many free-speech advocates said, the actions amount to a heavy-handed and likely illegal effort to control the national conversation. But a senior White House official took strong issue with that characterization.

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